Cinnamon and Vanilla
by Sammy'sPeetaBread
Summary: Gale wants to impress Katniss with a cake, so he asks Peeta for some assistance. The two of them bond over stories of abuse that they have received from Katniss.


This was written for a Starvation prompt that has to do with icing. Now at first I was wondering "how can I twist the 'icing' prompt into something dark?" Well, I couldn't, so I decided to go the opposite route and try my hand at comedy again. The characters in this story are without a doubt pretty OOC.

**Summary:** Gale wants to impress Katniss with a cake, so he asks Peeta for some assistance. The two of them bond over stories of abuse that they have received from Katniss.

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**Cinnamon and Vanilla**

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"Hi there, this is Gale… know that we aren't exactly friends… and we haven't really talked too much with each other, or at all… Eheh… I was wondering if, well, you could help me bake a cake…?" I asked with as much manly pride as I can muster up.

Hold up, why, you wonder, am I asking icing fingers for help? I, Gale frickin Hawthorne, the Seams sexiest bachelor has been forced to grovel at the feet of Peeta McDorksalot's feet. Shameful, I know. Now hold up, before you begin to judge me for the rest of my life, hear me out. Can you do that? Good. Let me tell you a little story about how this cake might get me laid with, nonetheless, Katniss Hottie McTottie Everdeen. Yum.

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So my day started out like this, I'm strutting my tight buns (did I mention I'm wearing leather pants) around District Twelve, and all the ladies are like 'ooh Gale, you so fine.' Girl, I know I'm fine. Once I get over my daily morning ego trip, I continue with making my rounds through town.

Then I spot her.

Katniss Everdeen's long braid is flowing softly in the cool morning's breeze, her coal grey eyes catch the glint of the rising sun, and her mahogany boots trot on the pavement like she just don't care. Damn, I should get into poetry.

Ms. Everdeen sees me walking towards her, so she waves her perfect little hand at me. I wave back at her. Ok, quick background check about Katniss. We've been friends for some time, we share the fact that we are fatherless, and we both hunt together. You'd think that could be a making of a relationship in the process, right? That's what I thought. She volunteered to be the tribute last year, so I decided to make my move since, well, I might not have gotten another chance. I must have misread all the signs that she had been given me because she friend-zoned the shit out of my ass. "I don't want to have children, Gale." Honey, if you don't like me, just tell me. Using children as an excuse, please. I can always pull out! Also, she knows as well as I do that our children would be the most attractive specimens this district would ever know.

Children, psh, please.

So Ms. Everdeen comes back alive with that wimpy baking kid from the Hunger Games. I thought that maybe I could try hitting on her again, _but_ this time she's all wrapped around Mellark's finger! "Oh, Gale, you just wouldn't understand what we had to go through. Plus, we both know that there is know way Peeta could get me pregnant, I mean have you seen him?" Ok, maybe I added a little bit to the last part, but still.

"Hi Gale," she greets me.

"Hey Katniss," good, I said that with just the right amount of coolth to my voice.

"You ready to go," she leans in closer to me and whispers, "hunting?" Oh god, oh god, oh god she is so close to me right now. Must maintain testosterone levels at a happy non 'peaking' level.

I do a hair flip and reply, "Whenever you're ready, Katnip." And he sticks the landing! That was perfectly executed.

We hunt in the woods like the rebels we are, and we come back with a pretty good stash.

Not wanting our time together to end, I ask, "So what are you doing later tonight?"

"I'll probably do what I usually do," she nonchalantly replies. Oh that tease.

"And that is?" I prompt.

"I'll probably go home, wash up, and then sleep with Peeta," she tells me in a voice that suggest 'isn't it fucking obvious?'

I sputter. _Great, there goes some cool points. _

"Y-you sleep with Peeta? _Peeta?_" I ask incredulously.

"Yeah," she states sincerely, "almost every night."

K.O., Wham Bam, punch straight to my ribs and my masculinity.

"Every night?" I'm almost trembling now.

"Yes, the way he smells like cinnamon and vanilla after he's done with work, is very comforting. I can always be assured that I get a nice, _long_ sleep with him," I am mortified.

"So are you two… you know?" I don't know if I'm ready for her answer.

"I know what? … Oh. No. No. No. We are not. We just sleep together, that's all. You know I don't want children!" She is now in a tizzy.

Well, damn! How am I supposed to know that chick's not dating King Cupcake because she doesn't want kids even though she's sleeping with him. God! Women are so confusing. Does she know what the product of sex is? Or does she believe that children magically appear when two people date? My goodness.

Ok, play it cool Gale.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ask… It just slipped out," she nodded her head in understanding. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I think I'm going to be spending time with my family and Haymitch. It's my birthday tomorrow."

_Oh no, how could I have forgotten?_

"I have to go, I'll see you sometime soon?" Katniss says as she departs.

"Yeah! I'll see you tomorrow! I actually baked you a cake!" Snap. That just came out on instinct.

"Really? I'll be looking forward to it," she looks truly impressed.

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And that folks, is why I need Peeta's help. I figured if I baked a cake with him, I too will smell like cinnamon and vanilla… Maybe then, Katniss will consider me.

So back to the present time.

"Hi there, this is Gale… know that we aren't exactly friends… and we haven't really talked too much with each other, or at all… Eheh… I was wondering if, well, you could help me bake a cake…?" I asked with as much manly pride as I can muster up.

"Gale? What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" Peeta asks me with a shocked expression plastered on his face.

"Yes, I do, but this is for Katniss's birthday," I reply.

"If it's a cake, I've already baked and decorated one for her." Of course you have, you little suck up.

"Please Peeta, I'm practically begging here," I ask.

Peeta closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Fine."

That's all I need to here. I push Peeta aside and run into his fancy smancy, Capital renovated house. I hate to admit it, but it's nice. Very nice.

"The kitchens over here," I hear Peeta call from behind me.

I follow him into a state of the art kitchen that is freshly packed with ingredients. We both awkwardly stand by the counter. Peeta and I aren't exactly known for being buds. We are just so different. I'm this tall man that just oozes masculine goodness, and Peeta… Well, he bakes for a living. Yeah.

Peeta uncomfortably clears his throat, "What type of cake were you thinking of?"

Without thinking I reply, "Cinnamon and vanilla."

"What?" Peeta asks confusedly.

I repeat myself, "Cinnamon and vanilla."

"Ok… We can attempt that. I've never made a cake like that before, but let's do it," he replies.

"So, you'll be making the cake right?" I sound hopeful.

"Of course not. If you're giving this cake to her, you're helping me make it."

"Fine, but I hope you know I'm sacrificing a lot of my time doing this for you," I retaliate.

Peeta just sighs.

We start making the cake together, and I must admit, Peeta is a very patient man. Did I just say man? Wow. He patently walked me through all the steps of making the batter for the cake. Once the cinnamon batter was placed inside the over, we started to work on the vanilla icing. I only got a couple of confused glances from Peeta when I dusted cinnamon powder and smeared vanilla extract on my body.

I'm scooping powdered sugar, under the watchful eye of Mellark, when I decide to bring Katniss up, "So, I heard you have been sleeping with Katniss."

Peeta coughs a little.

"I guess you could say that," he looks and sounds conflicted.

"What do you mean by 'I guess?'" I question.

"Well we aren't exactly _sleeping_ together, you know?"

Some sugar flies into the air when I say, "Of course I know that! Do you think I don't know what is suggested when I say 'sleeping together?'" I'm getting frustrated.

"No, it's actually the opposite. That's all we do… is sleep," I give him a quizzical look which makes him continue, "She comes into my house, and sleeps with me in my bed."

"Ok…" I say not totally getting what he's saying.

"We just sleep together with our clothes on, you know?" He tries to explain.

"Wow, I don't really know what type of fetish that is, but it sounds pretty difficult to get any action done." Hey, if that's what Katniss is into, I can do it too.

"No, like we. just. sleep. together. that's it." He says slowly.

"Look, if you're trying to rub it into my face that I don't get a piece out of that body then that's just mean."

"God!" Peeta blurts out uncharacteristically, "I've never had sex with her! She just sleeps in my bed. You know, we catch ZZZZs together. ZZZZs, man, ZZZZs! We count sheep together." I have to admit, Peeta can really trill his ZZZZs like a master.

"So wait, you're trying to tell me that she's in your bed almost every night, but you've never tapped that?" I am in incredible amazement at this young lad's self control.

"Yes," came his short answer as he adds two blocks of cream cheese into the icing mixture.

"Wow," is all I can say.

"Besides," Peeta glumly starts, "I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm gay."

Can you really blame her? is what I want to say, but I refrain.

"How so?"

"What girl, who is very anti-sex, will sleep in the same bed with a guy of the opposite gender unless she thought he was gay?"

"Well, at least you get to do something semi-physical with her!" I tell him. "Katniss won't even touch me, or let me touch her. Admittedly if she were to sleep in my bed I don't think I could keep my hands to myself, but still."

"You got friend-zoned and I got not-even-considered-of-the-male-gender-zoned," Peeta states.

"Yes, I guess we did," I say frustratedly," Who does this girl think she is? I mean seriously? Here we are, two very attractive human beings both seen on the sexual level of inanimate objects."

Peeta starts agreeing with me, "Yeah, and I bet that if our lives were a series of novels, she would spend the entire trilogy confused about her feelings, and not knowing which one of us to pick… if she even picks somebody. She'll probably be like 'I know I have been totally leading you on by sleeping with you in _your_ bed, but I'm just so confused. Don't pressure me.'"

Feeding off of his energy, I put in, "You know, she will probably only choose the one that ends up getting hurt the most, or whomever she finds to be the most useful in her quest for survival!"

"Jeez, screw girls!" We both shout at the same time.

After realizing that we both said the same thing at the same time, we turned to each other and fist bumped.

"Dude, I don't know how we haven't been bros until now," I say.

"Yeah, girls," Peeta makes a tsk tsk sound, "Girls will always try to come in-between us guys."

I hold my hand out for him to shake.

"Bros before hoes?" I ask.

He sets the whisk down and takes my hand.

"Bros before hoes… But please don't let Katniss know I used the word hoe."

"Never, and same goes for me. She'd kill us."

Through our mutual fear and admiration of Katniss Everdeen, Peeta and I have just discovered a friendship between the two of us.

"You know what?" I ask.

"What?"

"Let's ditch Katniss's birthday, and enjoy this cake for ourselves."

Peeta thinks it over in his head. I can see him weighing the pros and the cons.

"Let's do it," as he says that, the little 'ding' goes off alerting us that the cake is done.

Peeta takes the cake out, slices them in several layers, and then he began to layer the slices with some filling.

When he is done stacking the cake, I take a spatula and smooth vanilla icing all over the cinnamon cake. It looks delicious. I dip my finger into the leftover icing and lick it. Oh my. This is what I am talking about! Peeta cuts two large slices of cake, and he hands me one on a plate. As we eat the cake, Peeta gives me a tour of his house. I am stunned by is artistic abilities. We end up sitting cross legged on his king-sized bed until we pass out from a very scrumptious sugar coma.

I am vaguely aware of footsteps walking up the stairs, but I ignore them and plunge back into sleep. Several… was it minutes? seconds? later, the door slowly creaks open. I hear a muffled "Oh my Capital," and I jerk my head up to see the intruder. My eyes focus, and I am staring directly into Katniss's eyes. She looks absolutely shocked. I feel something stirring against my body, and to my complete horror and humiliation, I notice that I have an arm wrapped around Peeta. Peeta begins to sit up, and I can now see the shock also registered on his face.

"I-I always thought you were gay," Katniss stutters," but I didn't know you two were gay together."

"W-what?" I gasp out.

"S-sorry for disturbing you two," with that, Katniss precedes to walk out of the bedroom.

"Katniss! I'M NOT GAY!" Peeta cries out as she leaves.

Once she is gone, we both look at each other. Neither of us are totally sure on what to say.

After a few minutes of silence, Peeta finally says, "I suppose any chance we had with her is gone now… She will always think I'm gay."

"Yeah, I suppose so. There go my hope and dreams."

"Yup," Peeta says.

My half uneaten cake catches my eye. I stick my finger in the icing and I lick it. Suddenly I am reminded about how fantastic the combination of cinnamon and vanilla is.

I look back at Peeta and say, "Doesn't matter, had cake. It was worth it."

And that, my dear friends, is the story of how Peeta Mellark and I became best bros for life.

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**The End.**

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